just loaded this up. have no idea how well this will run but will give it a try.

anyhow, in the screen to change controls, for each key there are 2 columns. one is called "key button" and one is called "alternate". i can change the one called " key button" but cannot change the one called " alternate"

i am up to the point in the tutorial where you have to change the disciplines to do a blood buff on the door to do lockpick. up to this point for every thing they told you what keys to press. here they do not.

can anyone tell me where in the manual is this information.

DH just told me what it was as he was able to read the keyboard reference card on the back cover ( bracket keys said scroll through disciplines) but with the font so tiny i could not read it but where else is this info in the manual. even in the options screen it makes it seem that the bracket keys is for inventory not for disciplines. all i find in the manual is how to activate the selected disciplines and how to turn them off.

I don't think the manual is particularly good, and I had a heck of a time with this part of the tutorial. My eyes aren't good enough to read that tiny writing either. Did you manage to work it out in the end? ALl I can remember is that once you have the discipline selected you right click to activate it.

I haven't finished this game yet - took a break for a while, but I'm close to the end. It's very good! I hope I can remember how to play after this interlude.

The back of the manual is a great help. Although, like you said, it is in very small print. I used a magnifying glass and saw that you could use the brackets key to scroll disciplines. I found out from Lucca that you could use the scroll on your mouse. What I am going to do is zerox the back of the manual and enlarge it so I can read it. I did read that the Tab key will alter some of your weapons. I have tried this on some weapons and e.g. you can single shoot, or you can fan. Makes a big difference. Only certain weapons are effected and are effected in different ways. This game is awesome. I'm going to start a new one.

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Always tell the truth; you'll have less to remember!

i did try the magnifying glass but it didn't make it any more readable.

finished the tutorial. the questionaiire chose a tremere for me but i decided to go with ventrue. think i will focus on melee. don't recall seeing you guys mentioning that clan a lot. tremere was my second choice but i wasn't sure how ell they would be in combat as they seem to be the " mages" and i didn't want to rely purely on disciplines.

just met with mercurio and am down at the beach. probably not going to be able to get much playing time until tuesday.

If you develop your stealth skills it will eliminate a great percentage of the fighting for you. It will allow you to stealth kill your enemies even in the presence of others. They just don't see you or their pathetically struggling gasping dying comrade. A high stealth skill can make you almost invisible to others. They know someone is nearby and they can virtually trip over you and still don't see you.

Lockpick and hacking will also get you information easier especially in the beginning. Gamebanshee has a great list of hacking codes if you want to cheat and put your experience points elsewhere. Maybe I will do that the next time I play.

I found that the unarmed fighting was particularly powerful and used it more frequently than melee. I found that the gun fighting was valuable only in certain places so don't disregard this because it will be essential in a few places.

stealth is out for me. had more than enough of it in the tutorial. don't want to waste a single point on it if i can help it as experince seems to be a very valuable commodity.

lockpicking seems to be a worthwhile skill.think i will invest in that. doesn't bother me having the hack codes in advance.

as a second combat skill how much ranged skill will i need. if i pick a second combat skill i would like one short range and one long range. doesn't seem like there is enough experience to get 2 combat skills to around 9. ranged would be the secondary one. would 5 be enough then.

i still need to have enough experience to develop the disciplines(2 of them for sure) and social skills.

Don't rule out stealth. There are some areas in the game that may be impossible without it. I found the tutorial quite hard but the occasions in the game itself seemed much easier.

I used presence as my main discipline and occasionally I used blood buff to improve my lockpicking. I'm not sure which disciplines you get as a ventrue.

For social skills I would invest in only one of persuasion, seduction, or intimidation. I think any one of those will get you what you want but not sure. I used mainly persuasion. A little bit of manipulation may also be useful for better prices but I wouldn't put a lot of points into it. Most valuable objects will either be found or given to you. Putting points into the feat that lets you read books is also valuable as you can improve many stats by reading books that you find. You will also need points into a feat that lets you identify found objects (forget the name of the feat). These objects once identified will also give you powers if kept in your inventory.